UNITED STATES
EPA recovers toxic material
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says it has recovered 517 containers of “unidentified, potentially hazardous material” from highly contaminated toxic waste sites in Texas that flooded last month during Hurricane Harvey. However, the agency has not provided details about which Superfund sites the material came from, why the contaminants at issue have not been identified and whether there is a threat to human health. The one-sentence disclosure about the 517 containers was made on Friday night deep within a media release from the Federal Emergency Management Agency summarizing the government’s response to the devastating storm.
BRAZIL
Troops control favela
Security officials said the giant Rocinha favela in Rio de Janeiro was back under control on Saturday after 950 soldiers were sent in on Friday to battle heavily armed drug traffickers. Five suspected gang members were arrested overnight on Friday, while a gang leader in another favela was arrested, along with a haul of semi-automatic rifles, police said. Although shooting was reported in the early hours of Saturday in Rocinha — for the seventh day running — officials said that the deployment of soldiers to reinforce police had brought the crisis under control. General Mauro Sinott said the troops would stay as long as needed.
BRAZIL
General rattles nerves
A popular general’s comment that the military could be forced to intervene in a massive corruption crisis has rattled a nation that only exited a two-decades long dictatorship in 1985. The top army commander, Eduardo Villas Boas, repeated earlier assurances on Friday that the military “is committed to the consolidation of democracy,” but the lack of any public disciplinary action against General Antonio Hamilton Mourao has raised eyebrows. Mourao told freemasons last week that “either the institutions resolve the political problem, through the judiciary and removing all those involved in illicit acts from public life, or we will have to impose this.” Mourao said he was expressing “the army way of thinking.” Villas Boas rejected the idea, saying that he alone could speak for the military.
UNITED KINGDOM
Six hurt by possible acid
A suspected acid attack in east London on Saturday injured at six people, with police saying they had arrested one man, although they did not believe the incident was terror-related. Police said they were called just before 8pm to the Stratford Centre, close to London’s Olympic Stadium, following reports of a group of males spraying what was believed to be a noxious substance. One male arrested on suspicion of grievous bodily harm, police said.
UNITED STATES
Price to stop private flights
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tom Price on Saturday said that he would stop flying private planes on official business while an internal review of the flights is being done and that he welcomes the review. Speaking on Fox News, Price defended the practice of using private planes, while a spokeswoman has said Price tries to fly commercial whenever possible. The HHS inspector general’s office says the agency is reviewing Price’s charter flights to see if they violated government travel regulations. Price chartered flights to a resort in Maine and to community health centers in New Hampshire and Pennsylvania.
NEW ZEALAND
Fuel pipeline repaired
A crucial pipeline that delivers jet fuel to the nation’s largest airport was operational again yesterday after a rupture was repaired. That should soon end a 10-day fuel shortage that has caused about 140 flights to be cancelled and disrupted the plans of thousands of travelers. Refining New Zealand said the first batch of fuel to travel through the pipeline since the repair arrived in Auckland yesterday. It said it will take a few days for production levels to return to normal.
AUSTRALIA
Meat ad triggers protests
Hundreds of people attended rallies in major cities around the nation to protest an advertisement that the Indian community described as “highly insulting” in its depiction of the Hindu deity Lord Ganesha. The India Forum Australia (IFA) arranged the protests in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth in response to a Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) advertisement that aired earlier this month. The ad featured various religious figures including the Hindu god, considered vegetarian by followers, sitting down to a meal of lamb. IFA president Nihal Agar yesterday said the MLA had not listened to the community’s earlier concerns when the ad initially screened. “This is not the multicultural Australia that we truly love,” he said. The Advertising Standards Bureau has dismissed complaints, saying Lord Ganesha was depicted positively and that the advertisement’s intent was to be inclusive.
INDONESIA
Volcano tremors intensify
More than 34,000 people have fled from a rumbling volcano on Bali as the magnitude of tremors grows, an official said yesterday. The National Agency for Disaster Management said the number of people fleeing their homes surrounding the volcano had tripled since Friday amid growing alarm that Mount Agung could erupt at any moment. “The evacuation process is ongoing and we expect the number of evacuees to continue to rise,” agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said. The volcano has been rumbling since last month.
AFGHANISTAN
Taliban closing tens of clinics
The Taliban has shut down dozens of clinics in the southern province of Uruzgan in the past few days, officials said, amid demands for special treatment for its fighters who control most of the embattled region. Provincial governor spokesman Dost Mohammad Nayab said authorities were talking to elders, asking them to intercede with the Taliban to allow the clinics to reopen. “Hospitals are not places for politics and we are asking the Taliban to let our doctors and healthcare workers return,” Nayab said. Only three clinics, including the provincial hospital, were operating after the Taliban shut down 46 of the 49 treatment centers since Friday, Nayab said. A Taliban spokesman confirmed that its fighters had closed down dozens of treatment centers, but said it was done because of poor services.
AFGHANISTAN
Suicide bombing injures five
The Ministry of the Interior said a suicide car bomber yesterday struck a Danish convoy belonging to the NATO-led international mission in Kabul, wounding five civilians. The ministry’s statement did not provide further details of the attack. No one claimed responsibility. Captain William Salvin, a spokesman for NATO’s Resolute Support mission, said a team was on the scene to recover the vehicle.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was